All The Hurt Would Go Away

Guess you never can tell...

"And you say I'm bad at making decisions."
I jumped and he laughed
"Shush. I had no way of knowing you walked in."
"It was funny though."
I rolled my eyes as he sat beside me
"So, nothing there you fancy?"
"No. Never been a fan of television."
He put his hand on his heart in offence
"You wound me Jon. What do you do during the day?"
"Play with the kids, go out for a walk or chat with Lin."
He sighed,
"Does Lin really use you as a nanny half the time?"
"Well... he is a single parent with twins so it is difficult."
"Yeah but how much freedom do you get during the day?"
"Umm, maybe an hour? I like it that way though!"
He gave me a look.
"Honestly! The kids are fun."
"Yes but they are also exhausting, I was surprised Lin even let you leave for the night."
"He's not that controlling."
I reasoned, Andrew simply didn't respond as the oven beeped in the other room.
"Dinner time."
I sat down and watched as Andrew laid out some sort of 5 star cuisine meal consisting of lamb, tortilla and vegetables.
"Jesus Christ, I didn't know you could cook so well?"
"I learnt after I found out you liked washing up the first time. It's fair that way."
I nodded and tried to slice into the lamb, it's a chewy meat so therefore I found great difficulty in getting a slice out of it. After a while Andrew noticed and stood up to move behind my chair. Leaning over he placed his hand on top of mine and guided me through it, his lips tantalisingly close to my ear as he whispered. After the whole thing was sliced he sat back down in his own seat whilst I was a blushing mess in mine. After such close contact and him whispering in my ear just ugh. It was too much for me to handle.
"You okay?"
"Uh, yeah..."
He raised an eyebrow watching me as I only got more flustered.
"Uhh, can I go to the bathroom?"
He smirked
"Sure babe."
I left the table and rushed to the mirror yet to see a tomato staring back at me. Are you kidding. I splashed some tap water on my face to try cool down but it barely did a thing, giving up I walked back in.
"You better now?"
I smiled and composed myself
"I'm fine."
I calmly sat down and we both finished our dinner in silence. Once we were finished I started to collect the dishes but Andrew stopped me.
"I realise this is inhumane but I want to see how long you can last without doing the dishes. I'll distract you, that'll be sorted out. If it gets too hard I promise I'll let you go and wash up."
I looked at him yet to find out he meant every single word that he said. Great. I nodded and he moved to put the dishes in the sink, even hearing them clatter against each other was torture. I sat on the couch unable to stop fiddling with my hands since all my mind was set on was the washing up just collecting germs and spreading them.
"So, TV is a veto. Hmm, we can watch a movie? Pillow fight? Cuddle and chat?"
I looked up at the mention of the last choice which Andrew thankfully understood as a subtle 'yes'. He gestured for me to stand so I watched as he pulled out the sofa into a double bed. Dumbfounded, I waited for an explanation.
"Oh please, did you seriously think both of us would be able to lie down and cuddle on that tiny sofa? Someone would fall off."
I mulled it over then decided that was probably the best explanation I was going to get. Settling into the bedsheets I was well aware of Andrew watching me but decided to ignore it. He followed suit shortly after and cuddled me from behind.
"So, are you liking tonight so far?"
"Yeah?"
"You don't seem so sure"
He whispered into my ear and I tensed
"I-I am."
"Really?"
I began to get flustered amongst the close contact and teasing not missing the fact that I kept trying to pretend I didn't care about the dishes.
"I know, I know. Go wash up."
I gratefully stood up and sprint walked to the kitchen almost screaming when I saw all the dirty utensils in there. It was clear Andrew preferred to make meals rather than Lin's simple microwave ones. I got to work viciously scrubbing the pots and pans he used until they were sparkling and clean.
"Do you think it's a bad habit Jon?"
I kept scrubbing
"What is?"
"This, washing up."
"Well, it's a chore which most people don't like so I guess it's a plus for other people when I do it?"
"No but like, being unable to resist washing up after a meal or something."
"I guess..."
"Because if you think so then I promise as the first step of you trusting me, I will help you get past it every time you visit."
I stopped scrubbing and turned to face him in shock.
"You'd do that?"
"Yeah, I mean, not having to do the washing up is nice but I want to be able to spend more time with you instead of losing you for 5 minutes after each meal we have. It does kill the mood a bit."
"I'm sorry..."
"Don't be. It's not your fault, I'm the primary cause of all this so I should help you find a solution if it's the last thing I do."
I grinned widely since, although Lin had acknowledged it, he never thought of helping me out. And here he is, knight in shining armour and all, ready to suffer each visit to helping me get past the problem.
"Are you gonna hug me or what?"
I turned, still smiling, to see Andrew smiling back at me with his arms open. I ran into the hug and embraced him as I heard him say.
"I haven't seen that smile in a long time, but I intend to see it a lot more. You deserve to be happy Jon, and after what I did I'll do anything to make sure you are happy."